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Global Fund to save $140 million on disease-fighting tools

A new framework will systematically organize the purchase of tools to fight malaria, saving approximately $140 million over two years, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Tuesday.

The Global Fund will sign contracts with seven manufacturers for a bulk purchase of insecticide-treated mosquito nets. The purchase will save $51.2 million immediately with a projected overall savings of $140 million for the Global Fund over two years.

The initial contracts for 90 million mosquito nets will be part of an overall purchase of 190 million nets by partners in 2014. The framework reduces base costs across the board and provides tremendous value for money in the battle against malaria.

"We can defeat malaria, if we all work together," Mark Dybul, the executive director of the Global Fund, said. "This kind of collaboration across sectors, between partners and manufacturers, is essential to controlling malaria and sharply reducing the number of children who die from it each year. And it's good business, too."

The new framework came out of a special partnership launched in May between the Global Fund, UNICEF, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative and the U.K.'s Department for International Development. Christopher Game, the chief procurement officer of the Global Fund, said long-term contracts in the new framework can improve capacity planning, visibility, production and competitive pricing.

"The transparency and single voice that we presented as a coalition facing the manufacturers was very powerful," Game said. "The locus of control has shifted from seller to buyer. It enables us to invest more strategically, and concentrate in areas with high impact."

Game said the Global Fund is in similar negotiations with the U.S. President's Emergency Response to AIDS Relief, the government of South Africa and drug manufacturers to leverage purchasing power for diagnostics and male circumcision devices.